Ducks and Mushrooms (not a recipe!)

The ducks are two weeks old. They are growing quickly but are still adorable. They look a bit awkward with their feathers starting to come in; like some strange skin disease is starting to take over. I love how they don’t look straight up; they tilt their head and look up at me with one eye. As if they are trying to figure something out or they are highly suspicious of me.

They live in a swamp. I tell you, people, no matter how many times I change their bedding it becomes a swamp in moments. They can empty an entire waterer in no time at all from all their splashing and being rambunctious. I wake to their constant chattering and their playful sounds as water splashes. Then the next moment they will be curled up in one ball the size of a kitten sleeping peacefully beneath the red light. It is endearing.

Soon they will be outdoors in their new coop. The light will stay with them for four more weeks. Our neighbors are adamant that they can go out now, that they are quite hardy. I am more afraid of their cat coming by to have a snack. I wonder how the ducks will react to the wild ducks in the pond.

For right now they are indoors, tucked away in their anti-cat fortress warm and happy.

I took a class three weeks ago on growing mushrooms. The endless supplies of boxed ones from the store were not yielding anything and I am clueless at identifying mushrooms in the wild. This class would be my first step into the fascinating world of mycology. I will do a more complete article on this soon. What I learned in a nutshell was that the fabulous teacher heated straw in a pot to a certain temperature, added wheat that had been taken over by the mushroom spores, and we packed it into bread bags. The instructions were to keep it around 65 degrees for three weeks.

65 degrees? I scoffed to myself. My homestead hasn’t been that warm yet! Inside the house it registered 55 degrees. I moved it to the greenhouse. 55 degrees and a mouse took a bite out of the corner. He apparently didn’t care for the flavor because he didn’t stick around. Back inside aimlessly searching for anywhere warm, I looked over at the ducklings. Next to the duck nursery we put the box holding the spores. Tucked in next to the warm fowl and near the red lamp, it is perfect. And the mycelium is spreading all over the straw. This week it will move to the counter and will try to fruit. I cannot wait to explain this magical world of mushrooms, much bigger than having slimy mushrooms on your pizza, mushrooms are needed for our very survival!

In the meantime, though, I am going to dream of oyster mushrooms growing indoors….and parmesan and pasta…but not with duck!

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4 thoughts on “Ducks and Mushrooms (not a recipe!)”

We bought ducks on a whim last spring and you’re right! Keeping them dry those first few weeks is time consuming. They’ve brought us such great joy though–they are the real characters of the barnyard. Good luck with yours.

Katie Lynn Sanders is an urban Farmgirl, writer, Mama, Grammie, and herbalist. Katie lives with her husband, Gandalf the Great Pyrenees, kitties, and chickens with names in a hundred year old adobe in Pueblo. You can find all of Katie's books at www.AuthorKatieSanders.com